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EDU-COM 2006 International Conference. Engagement and Empowerment: New Opportunities for Growth in Higher Education, Edith Cowan University, Perth Western Australia, 22-24 November 2006.

Abstract

This article aims to create a vision for technical education in Singapore in the year 2020, and the likely outcomes in terms of quality, performance and choice. Singapore is today one of the world‘s most globalised nations and it has achieved notable economic success. The current technical education system with the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) as the principal provider can be considered highly successful after more than 40 years of development. By analysing the evolution of a contemporary governance model employed by ITE and juxtaposing it with growing global trends in school choice, privatisation and marketisation, there is reason to expect further changes in institutional governance towards more empowerment and use of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) approach to promote greater engagement of the private sector. Visions are created through conceptual analysis of the evolution of a contemporary governance model and concept plans already in place for further development of technical education in Singapore. To date, ITE has introduced the ‗One ITE System, Three Colleges‘ governance model for greater autonomy in frontline operations and has proceeded to use the PPP approach to develop its planned new campuses. With Singapore well known as a nation which strives for excellence in everything it does and ITE embracing the vision to be ‗A Global Leader in Technical Education‘, it is likely that in 2020, technical education in Singapore would offer better quality, higher performance and more choices. This article systematically looks at key governance issues and the PPP approach for technical education, anticipating how they would affect the quality, performance, and delivery of technical education in Singapore and arriving at visions for ‗Technical Education 2020 in Singapore‘.